Semblance of Sanity
by Lady-Willowish
Summary: Post-Kyoto: A month after the events of Kyoto Hisoka’s began to suffer from nightmares. And it seems that a certain doctor might be taking an interest in him once again. TsuHis, OriMur,
1. Default Chapter

Title: Semblance of Sanity

Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei; if I did well I would have added an important kissing scene that seemed to be missing. ;)

Summary: Post-Kyoto: A month after the events of Kyoto Hisoka's began to suffer from nightmares. And it seems that a certain doctor might be taking an interest in him once again. Tsu/His, Ori/Mur

* * *

_He gasped as another wave of pain coursed through his lean body. His green orbs stared almost lifelessly into the darkness that surrounded him. He could feel the hot breath of another, the unwanted warmth hovering over his bleeding skin. He felt the liquid being lapped up, tongue followed blade carving intricate symbols into his body. He tried to scream, tried to plead but his voice had long ago stopped working. Mind, having already separated from body to ensure some semblance of sanity. _

_The crimson moon shone, casting an eerie blood glow on the things below. He lay still there, under the cherry blossoms. Now alone, his body broken and violated he felt the tears flow freely. As his memories leaked from his mind and the blossoms cascaded towards their destined meeting_.

Eyes opened, revealing the green beneath their shutters. The softness of the pillow was countered by the wetness that now soaked through the thin fabric. Sitting up Hisoka proceeded to wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. Another nightmare…another night of burning flesh, the scars that covered his body stung as though they were freshly made. How long would these dreams keep coming? How long would he be forced to re-live that night?

Rising from the mattress and warm covers, Hisoka walked across the small room and out into the cooler apartment. Using the narrow beams of moonlight the shone through the windows as guidance he managed to find the bathroom without incident. Bracing his hands on the counter-top Hisoka took a deep breath and looked up into the reflective surface of the mirror. The boy looking back at him seemed almost unrecognizable. His face was pale, and his eyes were red and puffy from the tears shed earlier, but that did not hide the fact that the dark circles under his eyes were getting steadily worse from lack of sleep. He was surprised that his tiredness of late hadn't affected his work. Of course he knew he hid it well when around Tsuzuki and the others, it was only when he was alone that he'd let his exhaustion affect him. Turning on the tap, Hisoka splashed some water onto his face. Staring into his eyes he summoned his courage and pushed away his fears.

Opening the door, Hisoka walked back into the cold apartment. The light from the windows was duller, as though even the moon had given up it's light to the darkness. One glance told Hisoka that the moon was in fact only hiding. Dark clouds covered the night sky, cutting off the moonlight from the world below. Hisoka sighed and made his way to the kitchen. Turning on the light he looked to see the clock said it was 3:42am. Without much thought he grabbed the kettle and set the water to boil, it was his morning routine to have a cup of tea after all; despite the fact that he was up hours before he needed to be. Sitting down at the table with his morning tea in hand Hisoka drank it in silence. And as the morning stretched on and dawn approached, seated there he stayed until it was time to ready himself for another day.

"Morning Soka!" The happy and energetic voice of Tsuzuki spoke as he entered their office.

Hisoka frowned at the noise his partner created and raised a hand to his already pounding head. " Really baka, do you need to be so loud first thing in the morning?" he snapped trying to block out the wave of emotions he was receiving from the older man.

Tsuzuki's face dropped as he regarded his young partner. He'd somehow already done something to aggravate him and all he'd done was walk into the office. Taking this as a sign his partner was not feeling that well Tsuzuki walked over to his own desk and sat down. "I'm sorry Hisoka…" he mumbled and then grabbed the first papers off the top of his very large pile of files.

Hisoka, having heard Tsuzuki's apology looked up from the file he'd been working on. Dammit…he'd only just walked into the office and already he was making Tsuzuki feel guilty. Maybe he was the one who was really the baka. Looking back down at the work in front of him, Hisoka signed his name on the report and put the pen down. He was finished his paperwork again, he was always finished long before Tsuzuki had even made a dent on his pile.

Sighing Hisoka raised his hands to his head again, the throbbing getting worse. It seemed as though every small sound was intensified tenfold. Why did everybody have to feel so much all the time?

"Hisoka?"

Why couldn't he block them out? Why couldn't he stop the feelings that were running through him…running through him like a knife. A pressure on his arm suddenly brought the empath back to reality. Hisoka looked up to see Tsuzuki kneeing in front of him, his hand resting on Hisoka's arm. _Worry, concern…_

"Hisoka? Are you alright?" The amethyst-eyed man asked.

An overwhelming rush of emotions coursed through him them, too many to pick one from the mass. With all his might Hisoka pushed Tsuzuki's arm away causing the man to loose his balance and fall backwards onto the floor.

"Baka! Don't touch me!" he yelled and buried his face in his hands. Taking a couple of shuddering breaths to calm himself, Hisoka looked up. Tsuzuki was sprawled out on the floor, his arms braced behind him keeping him from completely falling. Hisoka gasped as he looked into Tsuzuki's purple eyes, he'd hurt him. He'd hurt him again! "Tsu…" he started but was interrupted.

"I'm sorry…" Tsuzuki said and pushed himself onto his feet. His eyes were brimming with sadness and he turned his head away so Hisoka wouldn't see them. "I have to…" he turned and walked towards the office door.

Hisoka stared in horror as Tsuzuki's sad form turned away from him. _What had he done? Tsuzuki had been genuinely worried about him and he'd pushed him away…why did he always push him away? He'd promised to stay with him…why was he still hurting him?_ Hisoka rose from his chair as Tsuzuki reached the door, he lifted a hand as if to reach for him as he spoke.

"Tsuzuki…"

Tsuzuki paused in his steps; he turned his gaze back on Hisoka for a moment, there was a silence then that seemed to stretch as they stared into each other's eyes. It was broken then by Tsuzuki giving a sad smile.

"I'm fine Hisoka, I'm just going to get a some sweets…" he said and tried to make his smile look convincing.

Breathing hard Hisoka watched as Tsuzuki gave his smile; it wasn't fooling him. Tsuzuki's emotions were too strong and he could not shield them from him. He wanted to say something…anything to reassure him that he'd done nothing wrong. That he didn't mind if he touched him…that he wanted to be near him. But for some reason no words would come and Hisoka had to watch as Tsuzuki turned away once more, closing the door behind him. Hisoka stood there staring at the closed door for a few minutes before reality came back to him.

"Baka!" he yelled aloud. His fist slammed into the wooden desk before he knew he was doing it, anger at himself flowing to the surface.

"My my, you must be talking about Tsuzuki-san"

Hisoka's head snapped in the direction of the voice. Watari stood in the doorway, a vile of some sort of liquid in his right hand. Hisoka mentally reminded himself not to drink the coffee or to accept any drinks from the blonde man. Straightening himself Hisoka remembered he hadn't answered Watari's question yet.

"I…well…" he stumbled out.

"He walked by my lab but when I called out to him he didn't respond. I'm guessing by your outburst he's done something stupid again?" Watari asked thoughtfully; his usual goofy appearance absent for the time being. Hisoka was amazed at how insightful Watari was acting; although it probably wasn't that hard to figure out.

"No…I mean…that's not exactly right." He responded.

Watari reached his arm around the top of his head and scratched the back of it. "Maybe you should go check on him in a bit bon." He said his expression serious. After a moment though a smile formed on his face. "Oh that's right!" he said and reached into his lab coat for something, pulling out a folder he smiled triumphantly. "Tatsumi-san asked me to give this to Tsuzuki…but since he's not here I'll just leave it on his desk." He walked over to Tsuzuki's desk, where piles of folders and papers already sat.

Hisoka clued back in at this time. "It's alright, I'll take it." He said and held out his hand for the folder. Watari blinked at him for a moment before smiling and handing the folder over. "He has too much to do as it is," Hisoka said trying to mask some logic onto the action. Watari just smiled and walked back to the doorway.

"See you later then," he said and walked out the door.

Hisoka sat down in his chair and stared at the folder in his hand. Watari's words echoed in his head, "_Maybe you should go check on him in a bit"_ Watari was right he should go find him. After all it had only been a month since Kyoto. It had been a month since Tsuzuki had tried…a month since his confession. Nothing had changed though; it was as if everybody including Tsuzuki had just blocked out everything that had happened there. As if they were all trying to forget it. In all honesty Hisoka wasn't sure what he had meant when he'd told Tsuzuki that he needed him. That he wanted him to live for him if for nothing else. He didn't want to be alone. Whatever he had meant by it he knew that he wasn't doing a very good job at keeping Tsuzuki at ease.

Dropping the file on his desk Hisoka stood and walked out the door of their office. He needed to find Tsuzuki. Walking through the halls the young Shinigami did not see his older partner, _where could he have gone?_ He wondered.

Walking out of the building Hisoka was met with the sight of thousands of cherry blossoms cascading to the ground. The trees lined a path for him as he walked, the morning sun shining through the blossoms. As he neared the middle of the grounds Hisoka spotted a figure sitting against one of trees: it was Tsuzuki.

Cautiously Hisoka walked over to the figure of his partner sitting with his back against a tree. The pink blossoms surrounded him and a soft breeze ruffled his hair. As Hisoka approached even before he saw his face he could feel the sadness and uncertainty emanating from him, a frown was etched on his face and his eyes stared blankly at ground by his feet. Hisoka stopped a foot away from him, his shadow falling over the still figure. To his surprise the older man did not look up at him, nor did he acknowledge his presence in any way, sighing he took a seat next to the melancholy man. They sat in silence for a time, neither really willing to say anything. Finally to both their surprises it was Tsuzuki that broke the silence.

"Hisoka…why did you come here?" he asked, his voice not much louder than a whisper. Hisoka looked over at his partner, Tsuzuki still wasn't looking at him, his head was lowered and his eyes, which were usually so full of life, were not visible.

"Baka, you were taking too long to get 'sweets' and besides," he paused in his speech. "You didn't really think I'd fall for that did you?" Hisoka asked still watching for some reaction from the man.

Tsuzuki sighed and looked up straight ahead of him, a small smile formed on his lips. "I see, I guess not." Then finally the older Shinigami looked over at him. His violet eyes locking with Hisoka's green ones. As their eyes connected it seemed that no words needed to be said, a varying amount of emotions passed through Hisoka's mind in that moment. As quickly as the feelings had come, he pushed them down deep inside himself, away from the surface where they could be read.

Tsuzuki broke their connection then and got to his feet. "Sorry, I'm slacking off again aren't I? We should get back to work." he held out his hand to help Hisoka up.

Hisoka stared up at the offered hand, _Slacking off?_ Hesitant for a moment Hisoka reached up and placed his hand in Tsuzuki's. The connection was instantaneous, emotions flooded into him like a giant wave that crashed into his mind. _Loneliness, rejection, guilt…Hot…it's hot, the flames are burning…it burns…I'm sorry…_

"Hisoka are you alright?" Tsuzuki asked, his hands holding onto Hisoka's arms to keep him upright.

Hisoka looked to see he was in fact standing now, his arms being held tightly by his worried looking partner. Hisoka blinked himself back into reality and backed out of Tsuzuki's hold. _Baka, when will you stop feeling so guilty about everything?_ He asked in his mind.

"I'm fine, come on we should get going on all of **your** paper work," Hisoka said, stressing the word 'your'. Tsuzuki looked at him for a moment, then what Hisoka said registered in his mind and caused him to break into a smile.

"Arigato Hisoka!" he yelled and tried to hug him.

Hisoka saw it coming however and moved aside, causing Tsuzuki to fall to the ground. "Baka, stop fooling around, let's go." He said and began to walk back to the office building. Tsuzuki smiled and pushed himself to his feet and ran to catch up with his partner.

A light breeze blew through and around Kokakuro. The owner of the establishment, Oriya Mibu sat still in the darkness of the back garden. A sword lay untouched at his side and his long chestnut hair blew in wind. The cool wind touched the skin exposed by the opening in his Kimono. The sound of boots on wood alerted the Samurai to the presence of another.

"How long are you planning on staying here?" He asked, already knowing who was there. The white clad man gave a small grin and settled on the porch surface.

"How long until you kick me out?" he retorted.

Oriya snorted and stood, picking up his sword in his right hand, and walked over the seated man. He stopped in front of him looked into his strange silver eyes.

"In all honesty, I shouldn't have taken you in, in the first place." He glared at the man. "You promised you'd disappear…that you wouldn't come back…but you did."

Nothing was said for a few minutes and then Oriya sighed and sat down next to him.

"Why did you take me in then?" he asked, his silver hair falling over his electric blue eye.

Oriya shrugged and pulled out his pipe. " I couldn't very well let you bleed to death. There would've been too many questions." _Do you really think I could've just watched you die?_

"You should have let me die." The silver haired man said.

Oriya took a puff off of his pipe and glanced over at the doctor. _Is he really all you think you have to live for?_

"You're welcome," Oriya said taking another haul from his pipe.

"Your life would have been much easier if you'd just let me die." He said, running a hand through his hair.

Oriya snorted and put his pipe down. "Well I didn't, so lets just drop it," he said and pushed himself onto his feet. Standing he ran his hands over his Kimono to smooth out the wrinkles. "What are you planning to do?"

"I have some unfinished business with an old doll of mine…" His silver-white hair blew gently and he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"I see" Oriya responded, picked up his sword and turned to go back into the house.

"Oriya," the voice said behind him.

Oriya turned around and regarded the man once again. "Hmm?"

"Thank you,"

Oriya blinked and stared at the form in front of him. Slowly a small smile formed on his lips as he watched the man raise the cigarette to his mouth

"Goodnight Muraki," Turning away Oriya walked back into the house, leaving the silver haired doctor alone with his thoughts. The wind blew stronger and ruffled his silver hair around his face and the full white moon cast an eerie glow on the pale features of the man, his visible eye unfocused and distant, the light from his cigarette fading away.

"Soon…"

* * *

Author's note: Well that's the first chapter I hope you liked it. Of course it may suck but let me know what you think and I'll get right on that next chapter. :) 


	2. Chapter 2

Wow so sorry it took me so long to update. I've been very busy this last semester. But now being summer well I'm still busy but I'll make some time to updates these fics. So without further-ado I give you chapter 2.

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_It was happening again, hands were crawling over his body. Lips were kissing and biting into his flesh. The hazy world spun as he tried to think of anything but what was currently happening to him. Hands traveled lower and lower, a blade cut into his skin and the warm blood trickled down his sweat-covered body, stinging the already open wounds. The red moon shone down, bathing the landscape in its blood __colour. He shut his eyes against the invading light and tried to force his mind to be elsewhere. Warm breath hovered over his chest and slowly rose to pause just above his mouth._

"_You're so beautiful when you're scared Soka-chan." _

_Eyes snapped open and locked with deep violet ones, hovering just above him. Wha…? _

"_The crimson of your blood is breathtaking."_

_Tsuzuki? The hot breath was now leaning down by his ear; a tongue snuck out and licked the length of it._

"_You didn't really think I could care about a broken doll like you." Doll? "I'd never love a thing like you." It's… not true… "You'll always be **his** play thing. I can barely stand to look at you. You disgust me." _

_That's…That's right…I'm just a monster, a freak child…why would anybody love me? Why would I think I'm worthy to be loved by him? _

"_Time to finish my work…" The warmth had disappeared completely; no body covered his anymore. As he looked up, he saw a knife was held in the hand of Tsuzuki. And, as it came down upon him, Hisoka began to think that maybe this was how it was supposed to be... this was his punishment._

A loud crashing sound caused Hisoka to wake up and bolt into a sitting position. He raised a hand to his forehead and breathed in deep. _What a nightmare… _He'd expected the usual nightmares of memories he tried to forget…but this…wetness stung his eyes and he rubbed his eyes with his hand to rid them of their tears. Another noise from the main apartment caught his attention. He eyebrows furrowed in confusion; somebody had broken into his apartment?

0000>

Only a small amount of light leaked through the door and into the hall of Kokakuroh. It was enough, however, for Oriya to notice. The room in question was for his use only, and he did not take kindly to intruders. Sliding the door open, he stepped in and closed it behind him.

A fire was ablaze in the pit in the middle of the room, and a silver haired man sat on his knees in front of it. Symbols were drawn on the dirt in front of him and he lips moved silently, speaking unknown words.

"I'd appreciate it if you asked me before using my fire room…" he stated.

Muraki opened his eyes, his concentration broken. It didn't matter though; he'd completed what he'd meant to. Brushing the symbols away, he stood and turned to face the owner of his current dwelling.

"Of course, forgive me Oriya." He said and bowed almost mockingly.

"Do I even want to know what you were up to?" he asked knowingly.

"Probably not," was the response.

Oriya nodded and turned to leave but Muraki's voice caused him to stop and turn back around.

"Oriya…"

"Yes?"

"I have a favor to ask of you…"

0000>

Reaching over to the side-table, Hisoka opened the top drawer and removed a handgun. Getting out of bed, not bothering to put on a shirt, Hisoka cautiously walked over to the bedroom door. Holding the gun to him, he took a breath and then pushed the door open a little and peeked out. Darkness littered the place, and only a faint light from the windows made the outline of things visible. The outline of a figure moved in the darkness and Hisoka saw it. Raising his gun he shouted at the intruder.

"Don't move! Who's there?" he bellowed pointing the gun in the direction of the shadow. The form paused and stood still.

"Don't shoot!" a familiar voice squeaked back.

Hisoka's brow furrowed, he knew that voice…still holding the gun in his right hand he reached across the wall with his left and flicked on the light switch. Light poured into the room and Hisoka was met with the disheveled looking form of Tsuzuki. If possible, his brow furrowed even more. _Why was Tsuzuki in his apartment in the middle of the night?_

"What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled at the man, his gun still raised.

Tsuzuki stood still, his arms behind his back, which seemed to be holding something large. His eyes lowered to the ground. "I…well I mean…I wanted to surprise you…"

Hisoka's eyebrows raised, "Well good job," he lowered the gun, but kept it in his hand. "Why did you feel the need to break into my apartment in the middle of the night?"

Tsuzuki looked offended; "I did not break in!" his eyes glanced down at the lamp he had knocked over and then back up at Hisoka. "The fire escape window was unlocked…" he laughed nervously.

_I'll have to remember to lock that, _Hisoka thought as Tsuzuki explained how he'd gotten in. "Alright, that explains how but I'm still waiting for why."

Tsuzuki looked down at his feet again. "Well I saw your file…"

"You read my file?" Hisoka asked, outraged.

"Yes…and well, I saw that today is…well…" he brought his arms around to reveal a large rectangular box that was wrapped in strange blue and white wrapping paper. "Happy Birthday Hisoka!" he said cheerfully, if not a little nervously.

Hisoka stared dumbfounded at the box Tsuzuki was holding out. _Birthday? It was his birthday? He'd completely forgotten…He didn't really remember any of his birthdays from when he was very young, and after his 'gift' started to manifest, it hadn't really been a thing to celebrate to his parents. _

Blinking back into reality Hisoka saw that Tsuzuki was getting very nervous, shifting his weight from foot to foot and fiddling with the light blue bow that decorated the box he held out.

Hisoka walked over the kitchen table and placed the gun upon it. He then turned around and walked over to where Tsuzuki stood with the gift held out. Before reaching for it he examined the outside, it was a long box, but not very deep…he wondered what could be inside it? Grasping the box in both hands, Hisoka pulled it away from Tsuzuki's hands and placed it on the table. He glanced up at Tsuzuki who now had a huge smile on his face.

"Go ahead, open it!" he encouraged.

Hisoka hesitated for a moment before carefully opening the corners of the paper. Pulling it off, it revealed a long plain cardboard box. Glancing up at Tsuzuki he could feel the excitement coming from him…and he already knew what it was!

Lifting the cover from the box he saw that whatever it was it was wrapped in a white cloth. Carefully pulling the cloth back Hisoka gasped.

"Tsuzuki…"

An authentic Katana sword lay nestled in the cloth. Reaching in, the boy lifted the weapon and pulled the blade from its sheath. The blade shone silver, catching the light in certain spots. It was sharp, ready for use if the need called for it. The craftsmanship was beautiful. The hilt of the blade decorated in silver and blue designs. Hisoka gaped at the weapon; it was a gorgeous blade. This was his?

"Tsuzuki…this must have cost a fortune…" He wasn't very good at showing his gratitude and it was true these blades would cost far more money than Tsuzuki could afford.

"Yes well, I saved up the money from our cases that I usually would have bought sweets with…Also, I had some extra cash in my savings."

Hisoka's brow rose again, "You gave up sweets so you could buy this for me?" he asked astonished.

Tsuzuki looked embarrassed and looked away for a moment, "Yes well it wasn't easy, but I wanted to do this for you…" He looked back up at Hisoka. There was such honesty in those eyes… He wasn't hiding anything. He really had just wanted to get him this. But how had he known Hisoka had an interest in the marital arts?

"How did you know…?" he started to ask.

"I heard from Tatsumi about what happened in Kyoto… I thought you'd like a real one to train with…of course if you don't like it then that's okay…" He confessed and glanced away, waiting for Hisoka's response.

"I like it…I like it a lot. Thank you Tsuzuki." Hisoka said and sheathed the blade again.

Tsuzuki broke into a huge grin. "Good!" he said and jumped to the ground and picked up a fancy decorated square box from the ground. "Time for cake!"

Hisoka backed up a little bit; there was no way he was eating cake…no way at all…

Hisoka sighed bringing the fork to his mouth once again. The sweet taste of the vanilla cake invaded his senses, although he wasn't entirely sure if it was a bad experience. How had he let himself get talked into this,he wondered as he looked over at his partner who was busily eating his piece of cake, though if his count was right, it was actually his third. He looked over to the clock on the wall; time was ticking on, and it was almost time to get ready for work. Using this as an excuse, Hisoka stood from his chair, leaving his last bite of cake on the plate.

"We have to get ready for work. You can use the shower if you want. I had one last night, I'm going to get changed," he said and pushed in his chair.

Tsuzuki looked up at him with his big puppy eyes, a fork hanging from his mouth. "But Hisoka, you didn't finish your cake!" he stated, pointing to the last piece that occupied Hisoka's plate.

Hisoka frowned at the offending cake. "You can have it." He was sure that would work! Tsuzuki couldn't turn down sweets.

Tsuzuki shook his head and stood up. "No, it's your birthday cake, you have to finish at least one piece of it!" he whined, walking over to Hisoka's side of the table. "It's a rule!" he stated very matter-of-factly.

Hisoka glared at him. A rule? Maybe a rule he'd just made up on the spot. Hisoka watched as Tsuzuki picked up the fork and scooped up the last piece of cake. Holding it carefully, with his hand underneath, he pushed it in front of Hisoka's mouth.

"Come on Hisoka…just one little bite…" He was grinning like a mad man and for some reason it was causing a blush to form on Hisoka's cheeks. Tsuzuki was actually trying to feed him!

"Pleeease…" he begged and gave Hisoka the most adorable look he could think up.

Hisoka sighed and closed his eyes; he then opened them and moved forward so Tsuzuki could feed him the cake. Tsuzuki smiled widely as Hisoka took the cake into his mouth; he had to admit he didn't mind the taste all that much. Keeping his eyes locked with Tsuzuki's in silent defiance he felt the metal of the fork slide out of his mouth. He glared at Tsuzuki as he chewed the cake and swallowed.

"There, happy?" he asked.

Tsuzuki smiled even wider if possible and nodded.

Hisoka not really paying attention almost let a smile slip out. Almost, not quite, but the corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. Tsuzuki noticed. He practically jumped forward, placing his hands on Hisoka's shoulders.

"Hisoka! You smiled!"

Immediately his frown returned. "No I didn't. Baka…" he said, although there was no real force behind the words.

0000>

"You didn't have to come, Oriya," the cold voice of Muraki said to his companion.

"I know, but I wanted to," he responded as they entered a hotel room in Nagasaki. They had traveled during the evening and had just now arrived around four in the morning.

"You're not going to like my life," Muraki stated as they entered an elevator to go up to their room.

"I know all about what you do. I've had to cover up for you on several occasions, if you remember?"

Muraki gave a strange kind of laugh, "That's true. But you've never **seen** it,"

Oriya shrugged. It didn't really matter to him. He'd long ago accepted this about the man. That it was just a part of who he was, not that he agreed with it, but it was just the way things were.

"I can take it," he said.

The elevator dinged on the 12th floor and the doors opened. They stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall to the third penthouse. Using Oriya's connections they were able to achieve getting the room. Opening the door with the card key, they both entered and closed the door behind them with a solid thud.

"I hope you're right," Muraki said and walked past Oriya into the vastness of the penthouse. "I'm going out. I have to stir up some… attention. You can come if you want," he said looking back at the other man underneath the strands of his hair.

0000>

To Hisoka's dismay, it took them a lot longer to get to the office then it normally would have. This was mostly due to Tsuzuki stopping at every sweets shop and fogging up their windows. He vaguely considered just teleporting there, but he did feel like a good walk this morning. The fresh air seemed to take his mind off of his disturbing dreams.

Glancing at the bouncy man beside him, Hisoka inwardly sighed. It really was stupid. It was just a nightmare. Tsuzuki cared about him, his display that morning made that clear enough, didn't it? Violet suddenly met his gaze, happiness ebbing into concern. The blonde blinked and looked away.

"Hisoka?" Tsuzuki's voice cut through the air.

"I'm fine," he said, answering his partner's unasked question.

Tsuzuki seemed unconvinced however and pressed the matter. "But…"

"Come on, we're late for work." He said cutting him off.

0000>

There was a strong smell of gasoline in the air of the small garage. A mixture of black and red liquids now decorated the cement floor. A white clad man, stood alone in the dark center of the room. A blade dripping with blood held in his grasp, and the body of a young, once attractive looking man lay still at his feet.

Light flickered into the room as the light above him was switched on. Spinning around the silver haired man pointed a gun towards the person standing at the entrance.

Oriya gave a little smirk at the weapon pointed at him, "That one seemed to rile you up a bit," he stated. The doctor sighed and returned his gun to it's hiding spot within his coat. Ah his coat…looking down at the fabric he was grateful he'd managed to avoid any blood splattering the surface this time, however the man in his panic had thrown a rag soaked in oil at the doctor's precious white coat. It was now stained with dark blotches of black oil.

"I'll have to make use of that dry cleaning service our hotel offers," he said, though he didn't really think they would be able to get it clean.

"That won't work," Oriya insisted. The longhaired man then glanced over at a few shelves near him.

"You have a better way?" he asked, intrigued that Oriya may know how to deal with such stains. The dark haired man said nothing but walked past a few of the shelves, grabbing a couple different things.

"I'm sure he won't miss these," he said. He then strolled towards the exit but stopped to wait for him.

Walking away from his third kill that morning, Muraki made sure to leave a small trace of himself behind. Those who knew what to look for would know this was his doing. And that was exactly what he wanted. Stopping beside Oriya, he glanced at what he was holding in his hands. One can that read Ammonia, and a bottle of dish soap. He raised an eyebrow at the other man. "Why Oriya, how very…resourceful of you."

0000>

"So you're sure it's him?" Hisoka asked, looking over the file he'd been handed by Tatsumi. The shadow-master nodded, even as his eyes shifted towards Tsuzuki.

"But if you two don't want to take it…"

Tsuzuki piped up then, surprising both of them. "No, he's in our area. We should deal with it."

Tatsumi sighed, placing his hand on his glasses. "You know he's doing it on purpose, leaving those clues for us to find?" He paused, then getting no reaction continued. "He's trying to draw you out. I really don't think you should…" he trailed off seeing the look of determination and seriousness in Tsuzuki's eyes. Sighing, he handed him the money for their expenses. "Just be careful."

* * *

Okay sorry it didn't go barely anywhere in this chapter. I'll get it moving some more in the next one. Also again sorry it took so long, I've been very busy. But now it's summer! Time to be creative and updates my fanfics. 


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